Our transportation funding must remain focused on highways and crossings

September 24, 2013

An unscientific survey says the citizens of Hampton Roads are strongly in favor of light rail and other forms of public transportation. That may be interesting on some level, but common sense says the focus of this region's funding needs to be on the expansion and repair of our highways and tunnels.

Maybe that doesn't need stating at all, since Gov. Bob McDonnell's transportation deal specified that this region's funding must be directed to highway projects and cannot be diverted to public transportation.

Still, we feel that point needs to be reiterated – and then underscored – after the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization and local mayors began talking up public transportation last week in discussing how to spend hundreds of millions of dollars.

The impetus of this topic, which came up when the HRTPO met with local mayors to discuss the region's transportation priorities, was an unscientific survey of about 1,800 residents in a region of 1.5 million. It was advertised heavily in South Hampton Roads but not on the Peninsula. Should such unreliable, unweighted data have even the slightest bearing on public policy?

The governor's landmark transportation package directs regional tax money from Hampton Roads toward road projects, bridges and tunnels. However, if in the next few years the region shows significant progress on the badly needed repair and expansion of those roadways, the bill potentially could be amended to re-direct some of that funding toward public transportation.

On Monday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe pledged that if elected he would push for the expansion of the light-rail line to reach Naval Station Norfolk and the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. The train currently runs from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk to the Virginia Beach city line. Hampton Roads Transit has estimated that expanding the line to the Oceanfront would cost more than $1 billion.

It is worth noting that (a.) this expansion of light rail would be very beneficial to Virginia Beach, and (b.) Mr. McAuliffe's pledge came one week after he received the endorsement of Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms, a Republican. Does this sequence of events automatically mean that Mr. McAuliffe's support of light rail expansion is a quid pro quo response to Mayor Sessoms' decision to cross party lines? Of course not. But Mr. McAuliffe's background in business and politics certainly reflects a very strong talent for dealmaking.

With that in mind, we feel the need to stress to both gubernatorial candidates, as well as the HRTPO, that the focus of Hampton Roads' transportation funding for the foreseeable future needs to be our highways and our crossings. Nothing that happens during the term of our next governor is going to change that priority.

The results of the unscientific poll indicate that South Hampton Roads residents are more interested in public transportation now than they have been in recent years. Perhaps at some point, that can be addressed.

But an expansion of light rail will not address our most critical transportation needs – the improvement of our highway system to benefit citizens and businesses. The expansion of light rail will not, for example, help Smithfield Foods transport its products in and out of the region more efficiently. It will not help Peninsula residents get to and from their jobs with less congestion.

This is about our region's transportation priorities right now.

Those priorities need to focus on work that needs to be done on Interstate 64, particularly on the Peninsula. Funding needs to be directed to repair and maintenance of our bridges and tunnels, in particular the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. We need to continue to develop a plan for Patriots Crossing, the proposed third crossing of the James River connecting the Peninsula to South Hampton Roads.

These are the most important projects for our region, and they will remain so for several years. They are expensive, but they are critical to our region's economic interests and to our residents' quality of life. The governor's transportation deal correctly stressed the need to give these projects the highest priority.

For the immediate future, there seems to be no reason to worry that these road projects will be pushed to a back burner. But when we hear the topic come up, even in speculative terms, it causes at least a little bit of concern for what could happen in the near future.

So we stress this loud and clear: The work that needs to be done on our highways, bridges and tunnels is not going to be done – or anywhere close to done – within the next few years. That roadwork needs to remain our region's top transportation priority.